New Data Alert: Pennsylvania

As of the state’s registration deadline, 18-year-old registration rate settles at 58.5% in PA.

Today, we’re sharing a first look back at Pennsylvania’s registration rates as of their voter registration deadline.

This is the twentieth of our 2024 Election Season weekly series of Future Voter Scorecards. Our goal is to help everyone concerned with youth and democracy understand where things stand, what is going right, and what needs improvement on national, state, and local levels to welcome young people as full participants, starting with registering to vote in high school.

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Pennsylvania: By the numbers

Pennsylvania’s voter registration deadline was last week on October 21. This was the last opportunity for eligible residents to register to vote for the general election on November 5th as the state does not have same-day registration.

As of that deadline, the statewide registration rate for 18-year-olds was 58.5%, up 3.9 percentage points week-on-week. The rate has more than doubled since June of this year. According to the US Census, nationwide in 2020, only 47.5% of 18-year-olds were registered, so PA beats that national benchmark by 11 points. 

In the Philadelphia region, 60.2% of 18 year olds are registered. As of the 2022 midterm elections, only 36% were registered in the region. Allegheny County again has come in ahead of the Philadelphia region and ahead of the state as a whole, at 72%. The County is up nearly five points just in the last week.

The registration rate for those 45 and older statewide in PA, however, is 78.1%, nearly 20 percentage points higher than the statewide rate for 18-year-olds.

Pennsylvania’s numbers may change somewhat in the next week as late registrations are processed, but we don’t expect the trend to change. 

It is clear there is more to do, both to make sure that all registered voters turn out in this election and to increase registration in future cycles. 

We hope readers will join us in 

• calling on all young people in PA to vote in this election 

• calling on the PA Legislature to allow preregistration beginning at age 16, and

• calling on PA high schools to expand their voter registration efforts so that everyone eligible is registered before they graduate, whether the law changes or not. 

Please consider donating to The Civics Center in support of our ongoing data and organizing work:

See below for detailed scorecards on 18-year-old registration rates for the most populous counties in Pennsylvania.